Safety appliance for railway crossings



Oct. 7 1924. 1,510,589

G. T. ELLIOT! SAFETY APPLIANCE FOR RAILWAY CROSSINGS Filed Nov. 30, 1923 Patented Oct. 7, 1924.

PATENT OFFIC GARDNER THOS, ELLIOTT, or ONANCOCK, vrnemnr SAFETY APPLIANCE FOR RAILWAY CROSSINGS.

Application filed November 30, 1923.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GARDNER THoMAs ELLIOTT, a citizen of the United States, residing at Onancock, in the county of Aecomac and State of Virginia, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Safety Appliances for Railway Crossings; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable othersskilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to safety appliances for use at railroad crossings to prevent accidents.

The main object of the invention is to provide simple, eflicient and reliable means whereby the drivers of automobiles and other vehicles will be prevented from crossing a railroad track without stopping or slowing down on approaching a railroad crossing and thus prevent accidents due to a moving vehicle attempting to pass across a railroad track in the path of an approaching train.

A further object is to provide means of the character referred to adapted to serve as a warning to a vehicle which is about to cross a railroad track and to induce the driver to stop, look and listen before crossing the track.

Other objects will readily appear from the following description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings in which Fig. 1 is a plan view of a safety appliance embodying my invention arranged in close proximity to a railroad track, a fragmentary portion of the track being shown beside a disappearing gate, and

Fig. 2 is a longitudinal sectional elevation of the apparatus shown in Fig. 1.

Referring to said drawings, in which the same reference characters are used to denote corresponding parts in different views,

the letter A may denote a pit, preferably of rectangular form, and provided with side and end walls of wood, brick or any suitable material, and a bottom preferably of concrete, though other suitable material may be used or a foundation of earth. B denotes a platform supported within the pit so that it may rise and fall vertically by means of pairs of downwardly inclined levers C and G at the front and rear thereof, one on each side, each pivotally connected at one end to one of the end walls of the pit and Serial No. 677,711.

having the adjacent free ends of the two levers on each side connected by means of a link 0 with a third lever or levers, D, near the fulcrum end of the latter. The levers I) are each fulcrumed at one end on a support I and carry at their free ends a gate E, which protrudes upwardly through an open ing between the platform and an end wall of the pit. The platform B may be sup ported at opposite ends or at the front and rear thereof on the pairs of levers C and C by links 0 and 0 pivotally connecting the levers near their fulcrum ends with pendant lugs b on the under side of the platform so that when it is depressed by the weight of a vehicle moving thereon it will depress the lower free ends of the levers C and C caus ing them to pull down the free ends of the gate-supporting levers D and thus lower the gate, as indicated by the dotted lines in Fig. 2, so that the vehicle may cross over the track.

In order to restore the platform and gate to normal raised position, after the passage of a vehicle, a weight or a coiled or other suitable spring or springs G, mounted on a base or support H, has one end connected with the lever D, at a suitable distance from its fulcrum end to adapt it to raise the gate and platform by the recoil of the spring or springs when compressed. Preferably the platform rests normally in a position slightly raised above the surface of the ground or roadway over which the vehicle is traveling,

and has a beveled rear edge, as at 72 to prevent shock or jar when the vehicle wheels contact with its rear end in passing over the platform, though it may be flush with said surface. A single forked lever may be used instead of the two levers D, having the free ends of its two branches pivoted to the lower end of the gate and its single end por-' tion fulcrumed on the post or other suitable support I rising from the bottom of the pit, and the gate E may be secured to its sup porting lever or levers in any suitable man ner, though preferably by pivotal or hinged connection, so as to protrude upwardly through an opening between one end of the pit and the adjacent end of the platform, as shown in Fig. 2, and thus compensate for the variation in the length of the lever or the distance between its fulcrum end and the end wall of the pit, in the raised and lowermost positions of the lever.

To prevent sudden downward movement of the vehicle, I provide a cushioning device F which may consist of a spring or an or dinary dashpot secured to or pressing on one end of a connecting rod 7 pivoted at its upper end to the lever D, forward of the pivotal connection between the last mentioned lever and the adjacent ends of the levers (.7 and C In operation, when the free end of the gate-supporting lever is raised by pressure upon the platform the gate will be raised, and vice versa, the operation being similar to'that of the ordinary platform scales. But it will be observed that the gate is first slightly lowered by the weight of the vehicle as its front wheels ride upon and depress the end of the platform which rests on the levers C and when the full weight of the vehicle is: on the platform the gate will be further lowered and caused to disappear below the surface of the roadway, the pressure exerted upon the lever C, plus the continued pressure on the levers C thus removing the obstruction and pernitting the vehicle to pass off the platform and across the track and continue its way, and when the weight on the platform is removed the spring or springs G, under compression, will come into action and autcmatically raise and restore the g to platform to normal position, ready t the next oncoming vehicle and prevent o l :1

sage thereof ov'.' the track until t is again lowered in tne manner lltleilbtili'OlQ described.

It will be understood of coiu'se that various changes may be made in the details of construction and arrangement of parts without departing from the spirit and scope of my invention as specified in the appended claims. For example, a motor may be sub stituted for the spring to raise the gate and platform, or a. weight and spring may be used for this purpose, the weight serving to pull down and the spring to raise the gate and platform, the operation in either case being automatic.

Having thus described my invention, what claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. A safety device for railway crossings comprising a substantially horizontal platform, means for yieldingly supporting the platform in the roadway near the track so that it may be depressed by the weight of a vehicle thereon, a gate at one end of the platform, means whereby the gate will be caused to descend and disappear when the platform is depressed, and means for automatically raising the platform and simul.-- taneo'usly raising the ate when the weight on'the platform is removed.

2. A safety appliance for railroad crossings comprising a substantially horizontal vertically movable platform over which a vehicle may pass, means for normally yieldiugly supporting said platform approximately on a level with the roadway so that it may be depressed by the weight of a moving vehicle thereon, a. gate normally obstructing the roadway at one end of said platform, and connections between said gate and saio supporting means whereby the gate will be lowered when the platform is depressed, and means for restoring the gate and platform to their normal positions when the weight on the platform is removed.

A safety appliance for railroad crossings comprising a pit, a vertically movable platform over which a moving vehicle may pass arranged over said pit, means for normally yieldingly supporting said platform so that itwill be depressed by the weight of the moving vehicle thereon, a vertically movable gate normally visible and obstructing the roa lway at one end of said platform, connections between said gate and platformsupporting means whereby the gate will be lowered when the platform is depressed, and a spring acting on said connections for restoring the gate and platform to their normal positions when the weight on the plat form is removed.

a. A safety appliance for railroad crossings comprising a substantially horizontal vertically movable platform over which a moving vehicle may pass, means for normally yieldingly supporting said platform so that it will be depressed by the weight of the moving vehicle thereon, a vertically movable gate standing normally in the roadway at the end of the platform toward which the vehicle is moving, and connections between said gate and said platform-sup porting means, whereby the gate will be lowered and caused to disappear when the platform is depressed, and means for restoring the gate and platform to their normal positions when the weight on the platform is removed.

5. safety appliance for railroad crossings comprising a substantially horizontal vertically movable platform over which a moving vehicle may pass, means for normally yieldingly supporting said platform so that it will be depressed by the weight of the moving vehicle thereon, a vertically movable gate standing normally in the roadway at the end of the platform toward which the vehicle is moving, connections between the gate and platformsupporting means whereby the gate will be lowered when the platform is depressed, and a springacting on said connections for restoring the gate and platform to their normal positions when the weight on the platform is removed.

6. safety appliance for railroad crossings comprising avertically movable platform over which a moving vehicle may pass, means for normally yieldingly supporting said platform approximately on a level with the roadway so that it will be depressed by the weight of the moving vehicle thereon, a normally visible disappearing gate at the end of the platform toward which the vehicle is moving and connections between said gate and platform-supporting means whereby the gate will be lowered and caused to disappear when the platform is depressed, and means for restoring the gate and platform to their normal positions when the weight thereon is removed; the latter means comprising a pair of levers on which the platform is supported each pivoted to a fixed support at one end, a lever pivoted at one end and carrying said gate at the other end thereof; the free ends I of said pair of levers being connected to said gate-carrying lever near the pivoted end thereof, so as to adapt them to raise or lower said gate when said platform is raised or lowered, and means acting on said gate-carrying lever so as to raise the gate and platform when the weight on the latter is removed.

7 A safety appliance for railroad crossings comprising a vertically movable platform. over which a moving vehicle may pass, means for normally yieldingly supporting said platform so that it will be depressed by the weight of the moving vehicle, including a cushioning device to prevent sudden downward movement of the platform, a vertically movable normally visible gate at the end of the platform toward which the vehicle is moving, connections between the gate and platformsupporting means whereby the gate will be lowered when the platform is depressed, and means for restoring the gate and platform to their normal. positions when the weight on the platform is removed, the latter means comprising a pair of levers on which the platform is supported each lever being pivoted to a fixture at one end, a third lever pivoted at one end and connected near its pivot to the adjacent free ends of said pair of levers, said gate being supported on the free end of said third lever, and means acting on said third lever to raise the platform when the weight thereon is removed, and a cushioning device adapted to prevent sudden downward movement of the platform.

8. A safety device for railway crossings comprising a substantially horizontal platform, means for yieldingly supporting the platform in the roadway near the track so that it may be depressed by the weight of a vehicle thereon, a gate at one end of the platform, means whereby the gate will be caused to descend and disappear when the platform is depressed, a cushioning device to prevent sudden depression or downward movement of the platform, and means for automatically raising the platform and simultaneously raising the gate when the weight on the platform is removed.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature in the presence of two witnesses.

GARDNER THUS. ELLIOTT. Witnesses: LLOYD J. SAVAGE, A

V. S. BURTON. 

